Total Disk Storage Systems Turn a Corner, Posting First Year-Over-Year Gain in More Than Four Quarters, According to IDC

FRAMINGHAM, MA. - March 5, 2010 - Worldwide external disk storage systems factory revenues posted a year-over-year decline of 0.7%, totaling $5.3 billion, in the fourth quarter of 2009 (4Q09), according to the IDC Worldwide Quarterly Disk Storage Systems Tracker. For the quarter, the total disk storage systems market grew to $7.3 billion in revenues, representing 0.2% growth from the prior year's fourth quarter. Total disk storage systems capacity shipped reach 3,304 petabytes, growing 33.4% year over year.

"Although 2009 might have gotten off to a rough start, it ended on a strong note," said Liz Conner, senior research analyst, Storage Systems. "Total (internal plus external) factory revenue for the fourth quarter posted the first year-over-year growth since the third quarter of 2008. Although Q4 is traditionally a strong quarter, 4Q09 accounted for 29.7% of the revenues for 2009, compared to 26.2% for Q408. Much of this increase was driven by Open Networked Storage, which posted its first year-over-year growth, of 3.6%, since the fourth quarter of 2008."

Total External Disk Storage Systems

EMC maintained its lead in the external disk storage systems market with 23.7% revenue share in the fourth quarter, followed by IBM, with 16.8% market share. HP ended in the third position with 12.1% market share. NetApp and Dell finished the quarter in a statistical tie for fourth position with 8.3% and 8.1% revenue share respectively.

Open Networked Disk Storage Systems

The total open networked disk storage market (NAS Combined with Open / iSCSI SAN) grew 3.6% year over year in the fourth quarter to $4.2 billion in revenues. EMC continues to maintain its leadership in the total open networked storage market with 27.9% revenue share, followed by IBM with 16.0% revenue share.

In the Open SAN market, which grew 0.9% year over year, EMC was the leading vendor with 20.4% revenue share, followed by IBM with 19.3% share.

The NAS market grew 12.6% year over year, led by EMC with 50.5% revenue share and followed by NetApp with 20.2% share. The iSCSI SAN market continues to show strong momentum, posting 40.6% revenue growth compared to the prior year's quarter. Dell led the market with 29.2% revenue share, followed by HP with 18.5%.

"Network Attached Storage (NAS) now represents 20% of external disk storage systems factory revenue as users look for storage solutions to help them deal with the continued growth IDC sees with unstructured, file-based data," said Steve Scully, research manager, Enterprise Storage. "The growing number of unified storage solutions has made it easier for customers to implement one platform for multiple file-based and block-based storage workloads."

Top 5 Vendors, Worldwide External Disk Storage Systems Factory Revenue, Fourth Quarter of 2009

(Revenues are in Millions)

Vendor 4Q09Revenue 4Q09MarketShare 4Q08Revenue 4Q08MarketShare 4Q09/4Q08

RevenueGrowth

1. EMC $1,252 23.7% $1,261 23.7% -0.7%

2. IBM $889 16.8% $816 15.3% 9.0%

3. HP $641 12.1% $691 13.0% -7.3%

4. NetApp $436 8.3% $374 7.0% 16.8%

4. Dell $426 8.1% $493 9.3% -13.5%

Others $1,643 31.1% $1,690 31.7% -2.8%

All Vendors $5,288 100.0% $5,325 100.0% -0.7%

Source: IDC Worldwide Disk Storage Systems Quarterly Tracker, March 4, 2010

* Note: Starting in Q3 2009, EMC is reported as the combined entity of EMC and Data Domain.

Total Disk Storage Systems Market

In the total worldwide disk storage systems market, HP and IBM finished the fourth quarter in a statistical tie for the top position with 19.8% and 19.3% revenue share, respectively.

Top 5 Vendors, Worldwide Total Disk Storage Systems Factory

Revenue, Fourth Quarter of 2009

(Revenues are in Millions)

Vendor 4Q09Revenue 4Q09MarketShare 4Q08Revenue 4Q08MarketShare 4Q09/4Q08

RevenueGrowth

1. HP $1,440 19.8% $1,430 19.7% 0.7%

2. IBM $1,406 19.3% $1,288 17.7% 9.1%

3. EMC* $1,252 17.2% $1,261 17.4% -0.7%

4. Dell $756 10.4% $795 10.9% -4.8%

5. NetApp $436 6.0% $374 5.1% 16.8%

Others $1,983 27.3% $2,113 29.1% -6.2%

All Vendors $7,273 100.0% $7,260 100.0% 0.2%

Source: IDC Worldwide Disk Storage Systems Quarterly Tracker, March 4, 2010

* Note: Starting in Q3 2009, EMC is reported as the combined entity of EMC and Data Domain.

External Disk Storage Systems Market, Full-Year 2009 Results

Factory revenues for the worldwide external disk storage systems market declined 10.2% to $18.1 billion in 2009 compared to 2008. EMC led the market with 22.7% in revenue share followed by IBM with 14.2%

Top 5 Vendors, Worldwide External Disk Storage Systems Factory

Revenue, 2009

(Revenues are in Millions)

Vendor 4Q09Revenue 4Q09MarketShare 4Q08Revenue 4Q08MarketShare 4Q09/4Q08

RevenueGrowth

1. EMC* $4,108 22.7% $4,553 22.6% -9.8%

2. IBM $2,560 14.2% $2,665 13.2% -3.9%

3. HP $2,109 11.7% $2,556 12.7% -17.5%

4. Dell $1,647 9.1% $1,8588 9.3% -11.4%

4. NetApp $1,560 8.6% $1,601 8.0% -2.5%

Others $6,091 33.7% $6,898 34.3% -11.7%

All Vendors $18,075 100.0% $20,130 100.0% -10.2%

Source: IDC Worldwide Disk Storage Systems Quarterly Tracker, March 4, 2010

* Note: Starting in Q3 2009, EMC is reported as the combined entity of EMC and Data Domain.

Factory revenues for the total disk storage systems market declined by 11.9% to $24.5 billion in 2009 compared to 2008. HP was the leading vendor for the year with 18.4% of the market, followed by IBM and EMC with 16.9% and 16.8% share, respectively.

Top 5 Vendors, Worldwide Total Disk Storage Systems Factory

Revenue, 2009

(Revenues are in Millions)

Vendor 4Q09Revenue 4Q09MarketShare 4Q08Revenue 4Q08MarketShare 4Q09/4Q08

RevenueGrowth

1. HP $4,509 18.4% $5,432 19.6% .17.0%

2. IBM $4,141 16.9% $4,464 16.1% -7.2%

2. EMC* $4,108 16.8% $4,553 16.4% -9.8%

4. Dell $2,790 11.4% $3,114 11.2% -10.4%

5. NetApp $1,560 6.4% $1,601 5.8% -2.5%

Others $7,357 30.1% $8,597 31.1% -14.4%

All Vendors $24,465 100.0% $27,761 100.0% -11.9%

Source: IDC Worldwide Disk Storage Systems Quarterly Tracker, March 4, 2010

* Note: Starting in Q3 2009, EMC is reported as the combined entity of EMC and Data Domain.

Taxonomy Notes:

IDC defines a Disk Storage System as a set of storage elements, including controllers, cables, and (in some instances) host bus adapters, associated with three or more disks. A system may be located outside of or within a server cabinet and the average cost of the disk storage systems does not include infrastructure storage hardware (i.e. switches) and non-bundled storage software.

The information in this quantitative study is based on a branded view of the disk storage systems sale. Revenue associated with the products to the end user is attributed to the seller (brand) of the product, not the manufacturer. Original equipment manufacturer (OEM) sales are not included in this study. In this study, Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) sales do not reflect their OEM sales to Sun Microsystems and Hewlett-Packard.

IDC's Worldwide Disk Storage Systems Quarterly Tracker is a quantitative tool for analyzing the global disk storage market on a quarterly basis. The Tracker includes quarterly shipments and revenues (both customer and factory), Terabytes, $/Gigabyte, Gigabyte/Unit, and Average Selling Value. Each criteria can be segmented by location, installation base, operating system, vendor, family, model, and region.

For more information about IDC's Worldwide Disk Storage Systems Quarterly Tracker, please contact Hoang Nguyen at 508-935-4718 or hnguyen@idc.com.

About IDC

International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. IDC helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community make fact-based decisions on technology purchases and business strategy. More than 1,000 IDC analysts provide global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in over 110 countries. For more than 44 years, IDC has provided strategic insights to help our clients achieve their key business objectives. IDC is a subsidiary of IDG, the world's leading technology media, research, and events company. You can learn more about IDC by visiting www.idc.com [http://www.idc.com].

For more information, please contact:
Liz Conner
lconner@idc.com
508-988-6993

Steven Scully
sscully@idc.com
303-385-0335